I did a vanilla hazelnut that is great. I did make an extract of vanilla from the beans and used that, same with the hazelnuts. And that took like 2 months to make the extract.
I did 1/4 cup of my vanilla extract (6 beans to a cup)
and made an extract of my hazelnuts (used 2 pounds). and used all of that.
Easy to make an extract and the best part is you can get your primary done while you are making an extract.
For the Hazelnut extract: I roasted them for 10 min at 350 deg on the oven, then took off the red papery casing and put the nuts into a coffee grinder for a rough grind. Then into a jar, half full and put vodka or cheap white rum in it to just about 1/2 inch above the ground nuts. Shake it once a day for the first week and then once a week. At the 2 month mark run through a strainer and then run it through the strainer again putting a paper towel or coffee filter in first. This becomes important as you can then squeeze it out to get all the liquid out. It is fairly oily feeling. Then run it again through a coffee filter one last time. Boom you have hazelnut extract. It took to large jars to make 2 pounds worth. I just did it at once.
The result is some good stuff.
Vanilla extract is easy too, split and scrape the insides into your jar, cut up the pods into 1 inch sections and in it goes to. 6 beans to 1 cup of alcohol. Then same as above. It is not as oily though.
I recommend you oak it, then age it a year, but drinkable in 6 months or so, better if you wait.
Matrix